Play Therapy Korea (PTKR) - the KOREAN Society for Play and Creative Arts Therapies Limited is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting the use of play and creative arts as ways of enabling individuals with behavior and emotional challenges to reach their full potential. We are funded mainly through the membership subscriptions of our affiliated organizations and our own members, fees for services provided and secondarily by philanthropic investments.

We are to support children, adolescents, adults, and elderly people with emotional and behavioral challenges through providing professionals and paraprofessionals with well-structured play and creative art therapy including individual Play Therapists, Practitioners of Therapeutic Play and Filial Play Coaches and Mentors. At various levels members PTKR includes those working therapeutically with individuals who have emotional and behavioral challenges and those who have an interest in the subject under the umbrella of play including art, dance, movement, drama, music, Sandplay, filial play, story reading or writing, and so forth.

Our Purpose & Mission

The Society exists to further the good practice of therapeutic work with individuals with behavior and emotional challenges.
This includes improving each individual's emotional literacy as well as alleviating behavior and mental health problems.
The purpose of PTKR is primarily to help individuals with emotional and behavioral challenges as well as ones with mental health problems realize the challenges and difficulties are the important step stone to be aware of the real Self and fulfill their potentials and overcome their challenges to their happy journey in life.
We believe that the use of various forms of recognized therapeutic services to help them aware of their dignity and realize them in this life. Our mission is to integrate all the valuable theories, skills, and evidence-based practices that all professionals possess for the benefit of each of individuals in need.

Objects

1. To act as a professional organization for anyone working therapeutically with individuals with emotional and behavioral challenges as well as mental health problems anywhere in Korea with the base of PTI’s collaboration.

2. To promote the benefits of therapeutic professions with the individuals based on the standards and ethical framework which are adapted to meet each individual’s needs.

3. To make training and other resources available for therapeutic work with the individuals by working with training providers, disseminating information and accrediting appropriate courses in evidence-based creative therapies..

4. To promote and advance discussion, education and research in play therapy, creative arts therapies and child psychotherapy. To establish and develop Professional Standards for all those working therapeutically with children..

5. Our detailed objectives are set out formally in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The emphasis must be on what a practitioner can do not merely what a practitioner knows. The implementation of standards must be evaluated in four stages: trainees’reaction to training, the amount of learning achieved, changes in the trainees job behavior and the results obtained.

Constitute

Play Therapy KOREA’s constitution reflects the principles of its founding members:

1. A wide range of therapeutic interventions using play or creative arts therapies can be used to benefit many children. A qualified practitioner requires a range of ‘tools’ including: art, creative visualizations, clay, dance/movement, drama, masks, music, puppets and Sandplay.

2. Many practitioners, working in a variety of settings, as well as ‘Play Therapists’ can use these interventions safely and effectively if supported by an appropriate professional infrastructure.

3. The infrastructure must include a modern ethical system that embodies clinical governance as well as the provision of ethical guidelines, a professional conduct procedure and a register of certified members.

4. PTKR must provide a lead and meet all of the obligations required of a profession.

5. The varied needs of the children, their careers, commissioning organizations and users of the therapies together with the existing skills, aspirations and resources of potential and existing practitioners must be realistically accommodated in setting standards of competence and training. The emphasis must be on what a practitioner can do not merely what a practitioner knows. The implementation of standards must be evaluated in four stages: trainees’ reaction to training, the amount of learning achieved, changes in the trainees job behavior and the results obtained.

6. The organization structure must be sufficiently flexible to enable decisions to be taken quickly, reflect the needs of the public and practitioner members, enable innovation to take place and alter according to growth and changing needs. We do not want to be bogged down by numerous committees or bureaucratic procedures that so often hamper the progress of other professional associations. We believe that the majority of members are content to be consulted on important issues but do not have the time to be closely involved in decision taking. The direction of some professional organizations, with a traditional organization, can be high-jacked by a small cabal using 'democratic' procedures. PTI believes that liberty is an even more important principle than democracy in corporate governance. We encourage our affiliated organizations to adopt a similar streamlined structure, but the choice is their’s.
7. PTKR will work collaboratively with any organization that aims to benefit individuals with emotional and behavior challenges.

Structure

The Board of Directors are responsible for the strategic direction and day to day operation of PTI. They are legally and financially responsible for running the Society.
The Board of Directors takes into account recommendations from the Advisory board which in turn receives suggestions and proposals from PTI’s affiliated organisation Boards and from Practitioner Members.
The Articles of Association specifically determines that the company is prevented from distributing any profits arising from its activities.
PTI aims, in the medium term, to generate sufficient excess of revenues over costs in order to:

1. Invest these surpluses in research, development, growth and bursaries

2. Become independent of raising funds through the sale of shares, gifts, donations etc

It is not currently the intention to work towards charity status. The Board of Directors feels strongly that if an organisation is meeting the needs of the children throughout the world, its affiliated organisations and its practitioner members and is run effectively and efficiently it should not be necessary to rely on charitable donations to fund its operations.